THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE · Page 2 THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE EMMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING—May 30, 2015...

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themselves Christian be- cause of heritage or cul- ture. Congregational Christians have some connection to a local church, but rarely attend. On the other hand, Con- victional Christians call themselves Christians like the other two cate- gories, but they attend church services regularly and order their lives around their faith con- victions. Nominal Christians (cultural & congrega- tional) are becoming the NONES(religiously unaffiliated). Convic- tional Christians are re- maining steady in the church, while other cate- gories of Christians are in rapid decline. Convic- tional Christians are willing to live & die for their faith. Commitment is not a dirty word for them. They practice the Resurrection & keep company with Jesus in daily life. What does Christianmean for you? I am a C…. WAY-following, Pastor Dave Pastor’s Keyboard: “Discipleship—Convictional Christians” THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE Recognize this jingle? I am a C; I am a C-H. I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N. And I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T & I will L-I-V-E E-T-E-R-N- A-L-L-Y.The word Christianmeans different things to different people. What does it mean to be a Christian? In the early Church, followers of Jesus were called People of the Way—Acts 9:2. They were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26). Christians were identified by the WAY they believed and behaved. Unacceptable beliefs and behaviors dis- qualified one from the calling/naming of Christian”. When I was growing up churches would often cat- egorize Christians as nominal and regular; as C&E folks who attended worship twice a year at Christmas & Easter, and those who were regular attenders. Church Consti- tutions often label mem- bers as active or inactive; or as baptized, confirmed, & communing members. About 70-75% of the U.S. population calls itself Christian, but about 25% of the U.S. population practices that faith in a robust manner. This in- cludes, in order of size, evangelicals, Catholics, mainline Protestants, & others…. Christians are baptized believers (IN CHRIST) who walk with a Gospel gait. As the song says, Theyll know we are Christians by our love”. Ed Stetzer, pastor and church planter, identifies Christians as belonging to 3 groups: Cultural Christians are the least connected — they call Food For Thought: To become an admirer of Jesusis much easier than to become a follower.—Søren Kierkegaard “Praising, Proclaiming and Practicing Emmanuel—God with us—in daily life!” July 2015 Newsletter Volume 3 Issue 7 Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.Matthew 7:13-14 INSIDE AND BACK PAGE NEWS Priceless 2 Website Recommendations 2 Bible Saturday 2 TEAM Jesus 3 Scriptural Reliability 3 Emmanuel Church Picnic 4 Back Page Stories 4

Transcript of THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE · Page 2 THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE EMMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING—May 30, 2015...

Page 1: THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE · Page 2 THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE EMMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING—May 30, 2015 On Saturday, May 30, the proposed revisions to the Emmanuel Constitution & the newly

themselves Christian be-cause of heritage or cul-ture. Congregational Christians have some connection to a local church, but rarely attend. On the other hand, Con-victional Christians call themselves Christians like the other two cate-gories, but they attend church services regularly and order their lives around their faith con-victions.

Nominal Christians (cultural & congrega-tional) are becoming the “NONES” (religiously unaffiliated). Convic-tional Christians are re-maining steady in the church, while other cate-gories of Christians are in rapid decline. Convic-tional Christians are willing to live & die for their faith. Commitment is not a dirty word for them. They practice the Resurrection & keep company with Jesus in daily life. What does “Christian” mean for you? I am a C….

WAY-following, Pastor Dave

Pastor’s Keyboard: “Discipleship—Convictional Christians”

THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE

Recognize this jingle? “I am a C; I am a C-H. I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N. And I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T & I will L-I-V-E E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y.”

The word “Christian” means different things to different people. What does it mean to be a Christian? In the early Church, followers of Jesus were called “People of the Way”—Acts 9:2. They were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26). Christians were identified by the WAY they believed and behaved. Unacceptable beliefs and behaviors dis-qualified one from the calling/naming of “Christian”.

When I was growing up churches would often cat-egorize Christians as nominal and regular; as C&E folks who attended worship twice a year at Christmas & Easter, and those who were regular attenders. Church Consti-tutions often label mem-bers as active or inactive; or as baptized, confirmed, & communing members.

About 70-75% of the U.S. population calls itself Christian, but about 25%

of the U.S. population practices that faith in a robust manner. This in-cludes, in order of size, evangelicals, Catholics, mainline Protestants, & others…. Christians are baptized believers (IN CHRIST) who walk with a Gospel gait. As the song says, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love”.

Ed Stetzer, pastor and church planter, identifies Christians as belonging to 3 groups: Cultural Christians are the least connected — they call

Food For Thought:

“To become an ‘admirer of Jesus’ is much easier than to become a follower.”

—Søren Kierkegaard

“Pra i s i ng , Proc la im ing and Prac t i c i ng Emmanuel —God w i th us —in da i ly l i f e !”

July 2015

Newsletter

Volume 3

Issue 7

“Enter by the narrow

gate; for the gate is

wide and the way is

easy, that leads to

destruction, and those

who enter by it are

many. For the gate is

narrow and the way is

hard, that leads to life,

and those who find it

are few.”

— Matthew 7:13-14

INSIDE AND BACK PAGE NEWS

Priceless

2

Website Recommendations

2

Bible Saturday

2

TEAM Jesus

3

Scriptural Reliability

3

Emmanuel Church Picnic

4

Back Page Stories

4

Page 2: THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE · Page 2 THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE EMMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING—May 30, 2015 On Saturday, May 30, the proposed revisions to the Emmanuel Constitution & the newly

Page 2 THE EMMANUEL EPISTLE

EMMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL

MEETING—May 30, 2015

On Saturday, May 30, the proposed revisions to

the Emmanuel Constitution & the newly created

Emmanuel Bylaws were both approved by a

vote of 26 to 2. The revisions to the Constitution

will need to be ratified at our Jan. 2016 Annual

Meeting. Thanks to everyone who attended.

PRAYING FOR OUR SCHOOLS

Each month on the 15th day of the month we pray

for an area school. During the month of July, when

all schools are in summer recess, we are praying for

all area schools. During the month of August we

will be praying for Longfellow Elementary. Our

pianist, MarJean Damerval, is a music teacher at

Longfellow.

SATURDAY SCHOOL

Saturday School ended on May 30 with an ice

cream party and a Bible challenge between kids

and parents. The Kids won decisively. Rally

Day is set for September 19.

BIBLE SATURDAY

On Sat, August 29 at 6pm we will celebrate the

gift of God’s Word in our lives. Bring your

Bible to worship with you. If you are in need of

a Bible or would like to provide one to someone

in need, contact Pastor Dave.

Visit the following Websites…

www.iowamissiondistrict.com

www.minkota.org

www.thenalc.org

www.lutherreadingchallenge.org

www.solapublishing.com

www.lutherancore.org

www.vilniuschurch.org

Pastor Dave is taking Monday as his

weekly day off. Please call for

emergencies only. Thanks!

Women of the Word! The Women’s

Bible Study resumes on Wednesday,

September 9 at 1pm. We’ll be

studying famous Women in Scripture.

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make it possible to reconstruct

the original with virtually

complete accuracy.”

According to Biblical scholar

John Warwick Montgomery,

“to be skeptical of the resultant

text of the New Testament books

is to allow all of classical

antiquity to slip into obscurity,

for no documents of the ancient

period are as well attested

bibliographically as the New

Testament.” The number of

manuscripts found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls (1947), at

Qumran, further validate the

reliability of the Old Testament.

Archeological evidence confirms

the historical accuracy of both the

New & Old Testament

documents.

Lee Stroebel, atheist turned

Christian, reminds us that the

evidence is in, and a Case for

Christ has been made. It takes

more faith to be an unbeliever

than it does to believe in Jesus.

Josh McDowell provides an illus-

tration of Scripture’s reliability:

In Luke 3:1-2, we have 22 histor-

ical references that have all been

confirmed apart from the

Scriptures; validated by

archeology and historical literary

sources. God’s WORD is relia-

ble. We can trust the Scriptures!

Priorities: My father used to

play with my brother and me

in the yard. Mother would

come out and say, “You’re

tearing up the grass.” “We

are not raising grass,” Dad would reply, “We are raising

boys.”

— Harmon Killebrew

TEAM Jesus—Together

Each Accomplishes More

… for Christ’s sake!

There are a variety of gifts and the

Holy Spirit apportions gifts as God

pleases. Gifts are given for equip-

ping the saints for the work of

ministry, for the building up of the

Body of Christ.” - Ephesians 4:12

“Someone has imagined the

Carpenter’s tools holding a confer-

ence. Brother Hammer presided.

Several suggested he leave the

meeting because he was too noisy.

Replied the Hammer, “If I have to

leave this shop, Brother Screw

must go also. You have to turn him

around again and again to get him

to accomplish anything.” Brother

Screw then spoke up, “If you wish,

I’ll leave. But Brother Plane must

leave too. All his work is on the

surface. His efforts have no

depth.” To this Brother Plane

responded, “Brother Rule will also

have to withdraw, for he is always

measuring folks as though he were

the only one who is right.” Brother

Rule then complained against

Brother Sandpaper: “You ought to

leave too because you’re so rough

and always rubbing people the

wrong way.”

In the midst of all this discussion,

in walked Jesus, the Carpenter of

Nazareth. He had arrived to start

His day's work. Putting on His

apron, He went to the bench to

make a pulpit from which to

proclaim the Gospel. He employed

the hammer, screw, plane, rule,

sandpaper, and all the other tools.

After the day’s work when the

pulpit was finished, Brother Saw

arose and remarked: Brethren, I

observe that all of us are workers

together with the Lord.”

“Now you all are the Body of

Christ and individually members

of it.” - I Corinthians 12:27

The Reliability of the

Written Word!

“All Scripture is inspired by God

and is profitable for teaching, for

reproof, for correction and for

training in righteousness, that the

child of God may be complete,

equipped for every good work” - II

Timothy 3:16-17.

Skeptics & disbelievers question

the reliability of the Holy

Scriptures. Consider this: One of

the criteria for the authority of

ancient documents is the extent of

supporting ancient manuscripts –

the more the better, and the closer

to the time of the original

documents as possible. In light of

these tests, the New Testament is

the best attested to work from the

ancient world. It has by far the

greatest number of existing ancient

manuscripts. Ancient classical

works are attested to by very few

ancient copies, usually less than

10. In contrast, the New Testament

is attested to by over 5,000 full or

partial Greek manuscripts. In

addition, thousands of other copies

in other languages exist, especially

Latin.

The total number of ancient

manuscripts supporting the New

Testament amounts to 24,970+.

Far more than any other book of

antiquity. While it is true that

“there are no known extent

(currently existing) original

manuscripts of the Bible, the

abundance of manuscript copies

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Back Page Stories Richards and Ardis Christen and their

families for the loan of the previous

hymnal cart and pulpit hanging.

Marks of Discipleship: Signposts

guide our way—Disciples seek to

pray daily, worship weekly, grow

spiritually, read & study Scripture on

a regular basis, serve others, share the

good news, & give generously.

OASIS VBS: “Everest - Conquer-

ing Challenges with God’s Mighty

Power”. July 12-15. Ages 5-12.

Register by July 6. God has the power

to provide, comfort, heal, forgive &

love us forever.

Sunday, July 12: 9:30am—3pm

Mon-Wed, July 13-15: 5:30—8pm

(Optional Supper at 5pm)

Have a safe and blessed 4th of July!

Devotional Books are available. Rev.

Jim and Diane Wagner will be our

guests on June 27 as we celebrate the

Great Commission; a gift of $1000.00

in support of our ministry partner-

ship with the International Church

Vilnius will be presented to the

Wagners. A special Patriotic Service

will be offered on July 4. Congrega-

tional Picnic at Vomhof’s on August

23. Bring a Bible to Church on Aug.

29. Pastor Dave will be on vacation

Aug. 5-11. NALC Convocation in

Dallas is Aug. 12-14. Vomhofs have

offered to purchase altar candles.

Next Council Meeting is July 14.

THANKS: To Julie Steffenson who

sewed a new parament for our pulpit,

and to Rich & Janet Sunde who pro-

vided monies for the purchase of our

new hymnal cart. Thanks to Kari

Men’s Bible Study Breakfast: Weekly fellowship around God’s

Word at 8am Tuesdays at Charlie’s

(1408 2nd. St. SW). Join us in being

Evangelical. Invite a friend.

Super Market Saturday: The next

Channel One opportunity is July 18,

2015 (9 am—Noon).

MISSION FESTIVAL SATURDAY:

Thanks to Rev. Jim & Diane Wagner,

missionaries at the International

Church Vilnius, Lithuania, who

shared the Gospel with us on June 27.

Council Highlights (June 16): $36 in Thrivent Choice Dollars has

been received bringing our YTD total

to $975. Emmanuel has used $9,624

from our Reserves YTD. Daily

We’re on the Web:

www.emmanuelofrochester.org

Contact Information:

253-302-9845 (Mobile) 507-206-3048 (Home)

[email protected]

1815—38th Street NW

Rochester, MN 55901

Attn. Pastor Dave Steffenson

Emmanue l Lu the ran o f Roches te r , M inneso ta

SAVE THE DATE!

Christmas With Emmanuel!

Join us as we celebrate the birth of

our Lord on Thursday, December

24 at 4:00 p.m. at Oasis Church.

Invite your family and friends to

join us for Christmas Eve Worship.

July 4th Worship Celebration! Declaring our Dependence

on God! Thanks to our musicians, MarJean Damerval and

Don & Peg Holtan for their gifts of music. Freedom isn’t

free. “Since the Son makes us free, we are free indeed.”

EMMANUEL CHURCH PICNIC

Deb and Larry Vomhof are hosting a congregational

picnic at their house (11530 Hwy. 52 S.E., Chatfield,

MN) on Sunday, August 23. Emmanuel members and

friends are invited to participate in a fun day of food and

Christian fellowship. We hope you can join us.

Time: Arrive after 11:30 a.m. We will eat at 12:00 Noon.

Bring: A dish to share, and a dessert. Hamburgers, brats,

and hotdogs, along with the fixings will be provided.

Coffee and Lemonade will also be provided. Bring

additional beverages if you wish.

Activities: Vomhofs have a pool, so bring swimsuits,

towels, lifejackets, & blowup tubes. Enjoy conversation,

& outdoor games. Grow a friendship or make a new one.

Directions: From Oasis Church—travel on U.S. 52

South approximately 20 miles. Destination will be on

the right; about 5 miles from Marion between the 2

county road 7’s. Watch for the balloons.